Tag: Portuguese

Every once in a while, I come across those lists of (what are supposed to be) untranslatable words in different languages. One can argue that everything can be translated but these are lists of terms without an equivalent in other languages. So, if confronted with the need to translate these words, we would either use…

This is the third and last part of a list I created with the most common false friends between English and Portuguese. These pairs of words and their meanings show that the word which resembles the most in spelling and pronunciation in another language is not always the right match in terms of translation. The…

This is part two of a bilingual list of terms that look similar in writing but translate quite differently in Portuguese and English. These terms are known as false friends. The similarities can easily lead to mix-ups and poor use of language so I hope you can find this list useful. In case you…

In linguistics, false friends are those words from different languages which look very similar in writing but actually mean different things. For that reason, they can easily lead to error a less careful or knowledgeable speaker in the languages concerned. On this post, I will be displaying a list of 50 false friends between English…

When wondering about the one word that really captures the essence of the Portuguese soul, saudade [saw-da-dɨ] is quite likely the term that immediately comes to mind. But what does it mean? In English there isn’t a direct equivalent, a word that truly translates the meaning of saudade. Let me explain. Saudade is a…

Whether you want to learn a foreign language for travel or pleasure or you need it for work and business, you might want to consider taking Portuguese language classes. Why? Well, Portuguese is, as Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes once put it, “the sweet and gracious language”. And who wouldn’t want to speak such a…

Among the most spoken languages in the world, Portuguese is the official language in 8 countries: Portugal, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste (often spelled East Timor). It is also a co-official language in Macau. That makes for two legal orthographic norms, two official systems: one in Brazil,…